For many individuals, tattoos represent an important form of artistic self-expression. Other reasons for obtaining tattoos include permanent cosmetic applications and to cover scars or blemishes.
Permanent tattoos are created by piercing the skin with needles or similar instruments to mechanically deliver an ink, which includes small particles of pigments/dyes suspended in a carrier, into the dermis of an individual. The creation of a permanent tattoo requires the insertion/implantation of pigments, dyes, and/or chromophores which are not dissolvable and/or biodegradable. Following mechanical insertion of the ink particles and during the healing process, the majority of the ink particles, 70-80%, are engulfed by phagocytic skin cells (such as fibroblasts and macrophages) or retained in the extracellular matrix of the dermis and the remaining ink particles are found such that 10-15% of the ink particles lie flattened on collagen fibers and 5-10% of the ink particles lie attached on the serosal side of capillaries. Over time, the tattoo inks may migrate and descend deeper into the dermis, so the tattoos become blurred and duller.
Despite the wide acceptance and popularity of permanent tattoos, there is a significant demand for the removal of tattoos. Removal of tattoos, however, represents a complex process that most typically involves the use of high power lasers. The current state-of-the-art for tattoo removal is performed using a variety of lasers which induce degradation of the inks to achieve tattoo removal. The laser conditions require matching the laser frequencies to the particles according to their size, composition, color, and depth in the dermis. The laser is applied to the tattoo such that the pigments, dyes, and/or chromophores of the ink particles absorb the laser light and the laser pulses dissociate and degrade the pigments, dyes, and/or chromophores components of the ink particles into small(er) fragments. The fragmented ink components may become essentially colorless and small enough to be absorbed by the body and removed from the dermis. Nonetheless, laser-based removal of tattoos has several shortcomings. For example, lasers induce heating of the skin and can cause burns as well as other undesirable tissue damage which can cause some scarring or color variations that are likely to remain after healing. Current laser-based procedures for tattoo removal may therefore be somewhat ineffective at complete removal of tattoo inks, require multiple treatments at a high cost, cause pain, and can result in scarring, disfigurement, and depigmentation of the treated skin.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a system and methods for tattoo removal using non-laser-based approaches. It would also be advantageous to provide methods that enable removal/extraction of the degraded ink components, such as dyes, pigments and other chromophores, from the body to reduce absorption by the body of potentially harmful/toxic chemicals.
It is therefore an object of the present teachings to provide a system and method for removing a tattoo from a subject by exposing ink particles trapped within the dermis to cold plasma.
It is an additional object of the present teachings to provide such a system and method which allows for the extraction of the residue of plasma-treated tattoo ink particles, which may have toxic properties, and of other degradation components from the subject's skin tissues.
It is yet another object of the present teachings to provide methods for removing tattoos which can be performed in one or more treatments and which are effectively less painful to the subject being treated than current conventional methods of tattoo removal.
It is still a further object of the present teachings to provide methods of tattoo removal which can address the limitations of current state-of-the-art removal methods (i.e., laser-based removal systems) to reduce issues with skin scarring, skin color bleaching, and residual tattoo shadowing remaining after removal treatment(s).